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Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Interview with author of "Resume Psychology" Dirk Spencer

Resume Psychology is a science based approach to resume content to help people hack the black-hole of job boards and corporate career pages.

Resume Psychology provides ethical resume hacks to leverage the performance and behavioral norms of the recruiting process, the people behind the scenes and the technology while avoiding the pitfalls and traps of out-of-date advice.

The author reviews what to do on your resume to avoid being rejected automatically by the technology. Mr. Spencer shares a counter-intuitive writing approach which increases your keyword placement to improve how your resume is ranked against the competition. Dirk describes a resume section-by-section showing what helps, what hurts and what to do better.

Why margin size matters to your resume inside a job board

·Best and worst bullet styles to use on the resume and why

·The 4-keyword hacks necessary for higher resume scores

·The Kiss of Death and the words to stop using on your resume

·Why job descriptions may be the worst place to find keywords

·The mistake spell check does not fix and how to avoid it

What inspired you to write this book?There is a lot of bad resume advice out there. I had seen my share of friends spend upwards of $2K

dollars for a resume which landed them no-calls, no-emails, no-interviews and no-offers. These

resume writers are not skilled in recruiting. Most are English majors with PhDs who are good people

lacking the necessary insights to help their clients in the age of modern resumes.

How long did it take you to write this book?

I spent 3 months dedicated to writing and editing the book.

What books and authors have most influenced you?

Dr. Williams, my college English professor. I dedicated the book to her. She taught me writing was a

science and she was right. She submitted for an Emerging Scholar Award in English for a poem I

wrote following the “rules” as it were. She said she saved my papers for last – they were her dessert.

Do you have a current work in progress?

I just released my second book The Candy Maker Resume – Resume Writing Hacks. If Resume

Psychology is the “what”; this book is the “how.” There are 2 more books in draft-mode; Interview

Dirk Spencer is a former government analyst, turned corporate recruiter and is the author of Resume Psychology Resume Hacks & Traps Revealed - Beat the Machine. Be Seen. Get Hired! A fact-based, science-focused approach to modern resumes. Dirk shares his technical and process insights to help people hack their resumes to be more effective when applying to job openings.

Dirk has also presented Resume Psychology to diverse ecumenical groups as well: Jewish Family Service (JFS), Career Counseling Group of DFW Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT), Career Counseling Group of DFW Islamic Center of Irving (ICI), McKinney Trinity Presbyterian Church Career Transition Network, St. Philip's Episcopal of Frisco Job Ministry, St. Andrew UMC Sales Group, St. Jude Career Alliance a Chapter of the Catholic Career Development Community.

In his off-time the author does amateur nature photography, makes Christmas decorations year-round and folds origami-crafts.